The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1887-03-10

hundred feet and was for time sinking slowly that u.s.
| at pace correspondent the continuous building of
coral reefs This depth is indicated by the character
fossils mbedded in the rocks and by the Theological
| character of the rocks themselves.
This assumes, what is commonly admitted by geoogts
that the limestone deposits made in the deeper
| and sandstone in shallow seas.
This older tertiary deposit, though geologicay is
yet when judged of in secular history, very DID,
back the time anterior to the upheava of the lower
half of the Rocky Mountains
In of geological time the oscillation changed and
the bottom of the began rse need advert here
to the geological principles occasioning these changes
level physical notifications which universally admit
ted and adverted to for accounting for the facts of
But an upf in progress which was first moderately
slow During this period there occurred the deposit now
denomnated the olgocene and the fossils in this forma-
ton differ somewhat from those below in that that they
possess various newer types
In still later geological time the bottom of the sea was
the surface and in places dry land appeared At
this epoch the moccne middle tertiary was laid down.
This of remarkable character brings forward
in State geological characteristic that is somewhat
peculiar though very dsmiar the lacusrne ter
tares in Nebraska and other parts of slope
| the Rockies.
At this time the land lay, tor protracted PERIOD
the level of the There both salt and fresh
water bays estuaes and inland lakes Among these
and varied width that ovegrown with vegeta-
ton, comprising reeds grasses hrubbery and vines
These were various in density proflsion and in
| some localities in dense thickes
Over these stretches and among these thckets there
populations of vast variety of animals comprising insects
winged and crawling; reptiles birds and quadrupeds
Also from proofs species of bimana. Huge MONS
tiers of the coasted along the borders of the
These the zeuglodon, whale of immense size,
much larger than whales get to be now. Also the
charodon species fshark large the largest of whales
living These have left remains of teeth as large as
mans hand
But these only the chief princes of the denzens
these coasts Fishes and reptiles eemed by the million in
all the waters everywhere, gliding and crawling about
tanges of seaweeds, clusters of gorgonas and cliffs of
corals, while the bottoms sandy muddy, all over
strewn with moluska crustacea steata and echnodea
of all coors and shapes.
On the borders Of these waters of bays and rivers there
grazed unique monster sem-repte fish, allied to the
present manatee, but vastly larger and which existed
immense herds In great bay that extended up north
ward between the Ockockonee and Sopchoppy rivers these
monsters also another coaster the charcharodon existed
amazing numbers, that there depths of phos-
phate deposits there exceedingly rich in phophorc acids
all afforded by marine and anphbian animals In these
deposits their fossil bones lie mbedded in great numbers
But the times turbulent these bones broken into
fragments there seldom being pieces of than two
three pounds weight
In Aachua county, especially in the south part thereof
there rich savanna, herded by the rhnoceros
mastodon, camel horse, llama and goat Among these
harborng in the tangles of chappara cactus palms
and divers vines fierce species of the ion and variety
of leopard, tiger and hyena that watching for
their prey among the smaller of the landed animals
very large bear also was common Dr. Neal Of Archer,
of the first to cite attention these fossils He
has sent to the National Museum at Washington consider
able variety of them.
In Taylor county large order of elephant was existing
One skeleton in the possession of Dr. Wilcox at Perry
in state of completeness But this American ee-
plant existed also elsewhere in Florida though
abundanty the mastodon The manatee zeugodon and
vast variety of sharks have left their remains by the
hundreds Of ons and in localities considerable
tions of rocks consist of these remains almost exclusively
But there also infinite number of other kinds of
animals during the time of this formation whose remains
would find burial in the and so would perish and
| fail to appear at present.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
The physical geography of this period was one which
affords much interest the geoogs The bays and lakes
much in the middle tertiary age than
as These Of various depths Some were quste
deep, Others sha0o and widely extended Lake Okee-
chobee The deep ones, when opening to the sea-
always Astounding with the larger fishes as the sharks
whales and the But the sharks were most
abundant The shallow bays teened with oysters, CLANS
and other she'll fish, and populated by birds large
numbers but their remains being peshabe are less
frequently found The reptiles alligator turtle and SER
penis abounded also.
1t evident that the from the sea encroached
upon the shallow savannas frequently else the remains
land animals could not have been preserved except
thus swept into the or buried in the marshes
Rains were very frequent during the mocene age and
were furious and these incidents alone explain
the almost universally broken state of the fossils we find
In the after Age when the plocene and quarternary
times came in, there submergence of the land